Dmitri
Shouting. There is lots of shouting and then pain. My bones crunch and reform, the sound so loud I hear it over the commotion. As I become conscious, a scream leaves my mouth at the absolute agony coursing through my entire being.
I can make out Dr. Andrew's voice, gruff commands being issued before metal pierces my skin.
"Dmitri, can you hear me?" It's Raina's voice, filled with concern.
"You must drink this. It will help you expel the dark magic," her voice urges as her arm cradles my head, holding it upright as a cup touches my lips. The smell alone makes me heave, but at her urging, and Ally's somewhere on the other side of me, I open my mouth, allowing the liquid to enter my mouth and slide down my throat. The effect is instantaneous. I immediately start retching, a bucket appearing just as I expel a black tar-like substance that hits the base of the bucket and sizzles.
Raina repeats the process when the retching stops, resulting in another expulsion of the substance. We continue this for what seems like hours until half the bucket is filled. It is not until all the contents of the cup in Raina's hand have been drained that I eventually stop hurling, my body already feeling better, the pain subsiding as my advanced healing repairs the last of the damage caused by Elsabeths spell and the black magic required to complete it.
Ally takes the bucket away, a bunch of herbs thrown on top of it before a match is lit and thrown into the bucket. A black twirl of smoke appears before dissipating into thin air, leaving only the smell of ether behind.
I sit up fully, wincing as the needle in my arm digs deeper, the liquid I am hooked up to nearly halfway down.
"Dmitri, I thought that was the end of you, my friend." I drag my gaze over to Andrea, who has just entered the room. I am lying on Sky's bed, the multicolored quilt shaking me from the stupor I am in as memory of what had happened prior to this comes flooding back.
"Fuck. Me too. But," I say, pulling out the needle from my arm as I look at everyone gathered around the bed, "it was worth it. I actually entered Gael's body. Just like Elsabeth did with you, Raina."
Raina's brows shoot up while a gasp comes from Ally.
"Really. So you saw Sky. How is she?" Raina asks, hope coating her tone. I can still feel the guilt oozing from her for bringing Gael into our lives. Though, how would she have known Blaise wasn't who he said he was?
"She is fine. Trapped and powerless. He has some sort of choker around her neck. It's blocking her powers." I get up, stretching my muscles and newly repaired bones to release the stiffness.
"A witches lei. Those were banned centuries ago. Though I do know that The High Council is in possession of a few. They still use them during interrogation. But they would never admit," Ally says, disgust at the archaic practice evident. It was as bad as using silver on werewolves and Lycans.
"How do we remove it?" I ask her, everyone following me out of Sky's bedroom towards the living area. Remnants of the items used to perform Elsabeths spell still litter the table.
"I'm not actually sure. Let me make a call to one of our covens, and I'll see if they can help," Ally leaves just as Ivan and Kira enter.
"Ivan, fuck. How are you feeling?" I head over to him, giving him a huge hug which he returns with vigor.
"I'm fine. Thankfully you are, too," he says, patting my back as Kira steps forward and wraps me in a big bear hug.
"Listen, I'm glad we are all here. I need you to look for a place close to Skylar's old house, not in Willow Falls but bordering it somewhere. Close to a cliff edge. That's where Gael is holding Skylar." Ivan and Kira nod, Kira's eyes already losing focus as she gets our surveillance team on it.
"The sick fuck replicated Skylar's old house. Down to the tiles. It fucking bizarre to see. It just tells me how twisted Gael is. We need to move quickly. He already tried to take Skylar's power but failed. For now. Until he realizes it's not hers to give but sits with our unborn child. Then who knows what the fuck he will do." The smile on Ivan's face seems misplaced until I realize he doesn't know Sky and I are pregnant.
"Dude, you're going to be a father!" he says excitedly, pulling me in for another hug.
"That's amazing and kind of ironic. Rene and I are pregnant too. Our kids can grow up together!" The excitement he feels spills over to me, the first smile in ages forming on my lips. It falters when I realize that he had almost died today.
"Don't go there. I know what you are thinking. But this is what we do," Ivan says, his hand patting my shoulder comfortingly. As beta of our pack, he was in a riskier position than most. I hated that that was the way it was, but at the same time felt grateful that he had my back. Today proved that. He had risked his life to save his Luna, knowing he was going to be a father.
"We will have a big celebration when this is all over. For now, we need to get Skylar back. How long was I out for Raina?" I turn toward Raina, who is flipping through a worn spell book, one I have seen her reading before. It is one of the books that were part of the items found at one of Gael's hideouts that was raided a while ago.
"About four hours. Which is remarkable actually. Most people don't survive a spell that powerful. Listen, I found something here. I was wondering how Gael is able to wield black magic without being impacted like you were. It's not just about being powerful. Witches and warlocks who wield black magic need to channel it through something else. Directly tapping into that kind of power will kill you. Apparently, it must be done through a conduit or talisman of sorts. It's usually an object which is kept close to the wielder. If we can get this object and destroy it, Gael will weaken, giving us the opening we need to destroy him. With the black magic and the power he absorbed from Chris and who knows who else, he might just be too strong for us." Raina's voice peters off, the consequences of not defeating Gael lingering in the air. If we couldn't stop him, then I doubt anyone could. And that would be bad not just for us but for everyone, humans and supernaturals alike.
"The whip," Andrea says, bringing our focus back to the room and away from the melancholy thoughts Raina's words evoked.
"I might be mistaken, but I've been mulling over it, and I remember a story I heard when I was held captive by Mira's father. There was a prisoner in the cell over who spoke of a warlock wielding Cleopatra's serpent." Andrea looks around at us expectantly as if we should know what he is talking about.
"It's moments like these that make me realize how old I am," he says before continuing.
"Legend has it that during Cleopatra's reign, she accessed black magic. Though, the story has been altered over the years, and the term black magic erased from the history books. Now it is referred to as science, alchemy, or chemistry. There was talk of an object she wielded, one that was similarly erased from the written pages. Cleopatra's serpent. Thought to be the cause of the end of her life as well. Cleopatra's serpent was fabled to incapacitate on contact, the lash of its tongue fatal when intended. The old cave drawings, however, depicted Cleopatra's serpent to look more like a whip than an actual snake, the symbology behind the two blurring the facts. This item was supposedly lost over the years. But that inmate, who was one cell over, told me an interesting story about two items being taken from the secure holdings of the High Council. One a book, and the other a whip." Andrea waits while we process what he is saying.
Elsabeths book was stolen from The High Council. Could it really be that they had Celopatras serpent all this time, and it now lay in the hands of Geal? I remember seeing it on the floor when I took control of his body. That must be how he was able to channel the black magic without it destroying him.
"Dmitri, we think we have a location, though we can't be sure," Kira says, re-entering the cabin and effectively pulling us all out of our individual thoughts. "Aerial photographs don't show a house in the area, but there is strong interference when our drones fly over a particular section. It could be that the house is hidden from sight."
"We need a plan. Running in there without one could result in casualties," Raina says, her eyes landing on everyone in the room briefly. We had become a family, and the thought of losing any one of these souls sent an unwelcome shiver up my spine.
"Now that we know what the conduit is, we need to separate Gael from it. We also need to get that witch's lei off Sky's neck. If we can't remove it, the only other person who can is Gael himself."
"You're right," Ally says, re-entering the room. "I spoke to one of the elders from the Eastern Covern. Only the person who put the lei on can remove it. It is coded to their DNA," Ally hesitates, looking around the room. "We have to be careful. If he feels threatened, he could use the lei to kill Sky. Strangle her to death."
"We have his DNA," Raina says, holding up some of the carpet fibers Ally collected from my house, the red stain of Gael's blood visible. "It's not much, but I can work with it. Build it into a potion. If we can get close enough, we can perhaps trick the witch's lei into thinking its master is really there. It's risky, but it's all we have."
"Something has come up. Someone, more like it. She wants to help. Cut a deal," Kira says, her glazed eyes telling me she is mind-linking with someone.
"Who?" I ask her apprehensively, my suspicion already forming as her focus comes back to the room.
"Savannah."
Blast from the past. Please don't forget to comment and vote!